Eric Clapton

Robert Caplin/New York Times

News about Eric Clapton, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 27, 2014

Eric Clapton release The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, is tribute to musician who was embodiment of underrated pop legend; Cale had lengthy career with powerful impact on scores of musicians, even if he never quite captured public imagination himself; album features contributions from Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nelson and others. MORE

Cream was a crisp, tautly rehearsed band on Monday night in its first full-length concert since 1968. Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and Ginger Baker on drums sounded as if they had every song mapped out from introductory riff to precise finish. Their voices were strong; their musicianship was impeccable.

Touring to support his blues album, "From the Cradle," Eric Clapton was engrossing not for what he played, but for what he didn't. He was the snake that everybody knows will bite. It was just a matter of waiting.

Talking with Eric Clapton is like handling a sheathed sword. On the surface, he seems gentle, calm and harmless. But occasionally his protective covering slips, revealing a man so raw and incisive that his words or simply his gaze can be as piercing as a blade. Mr. Clapton's guitar playing is similar: it sometimes seems as if he's plucking emotions instead of strings.

Eric Clapton now has his monument: ''Crossroads," a five-LP, four-cassette or four-CD set that covers the singer-guitarist's career from his first demos with the Yardbirds in 1963 to a September 1987 remake of ''After Midnight'' (commissioned, ignominiously, for a beer commercial).